The dawn of the digital marketing era

Digital Marketing has made its presence felt and announced its arrive with great aplomb – to the extent that many marketing gurus agree that it should no longer be considered as a branch of marketing, but an evolved form of marketing itself.

Average Indian to spend Rs. 10,000 on e-commerce in 2015: ASSOCHAM-PwC

An ASSOCHAM-PwC joint study has revealed that the average Indian will spend around Rs. 10,000 on e-commerce products in 2015. The figure is a staggering 67% rise on the current spends that average out to around Rs. 6000.

Such is the clout of e-commerce that as many as 40 million customers have purchased something online in 2014, which is expected to rise to 65 million in 2015. And the proposed improvements to logistics, broadband services and gadgets support this forecast. The overall e-commerce industry, valued at $17 billion, has been growing at a compounded annual growth rate of about 35% each year, and is expected to cross the $100 billion mark in the next five years.

2014 saw industry stalwarts – such as Azim Premji and Ratan Tata – investing heavily in the e-commerce sector. The year also saw native brands like Flipkart and Snapdeal taking on global players such as Amazon on a national level. The verticals enjoying the most prosperity in the retail sector were apparel, followed by the computer and consumer electronics sector.

The Indian travel and tourism is the second fastest in the world, and nearly 75% of total travel related business having migrated to e-commerce. With almost one-third of internet users already booking holidays and travel online, the growth will rely heavily on increased spending from existing buyers than first-time online buyers.

Another Business Today article titled, ‘2014 – turns out to be year of digital marketers‘, claims that digital spends are on the rise. Digital is on its way to form the core of the marketing strategy of the Indian arms of leading global advertising agencies as well. According to the findings of the ‘Digital Advertising in India’ report by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and IMRB International, e-commerce, telecom, and FMCG and consumer durables are the top three verticals driving the digital advertisement spends in India. The online advertising market in India is projected to reach Rs. 3,575 crore by March 2015, growing 30 per cent over last year.